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		<title>Continued contemplation about mobile plans &lt;https://y.st./en/weblog/2015/05-May/04.xhtml&gt;</title>
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			<h1>Continued contemplation about mobile plans</h1>
			<p>Day 00058: <time>Monday, 2015 May 04</time></p>
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<p>
	I found that T-Mobile&apos;s online activation process is different between &quot;tablets&quot; and &quot;telephones&quot;.
	I figured that because the process is different, perhaps using the process they don&apos;t expect you to use on a given device might allow you to get the plan they don&apos;t expect you to have on said device.
	As an experiment, I tried using the tablet activation process on my old T-Mobile <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> card.
	The old <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> seems to have been killed remotely by T-Mobile when I left them though, so it didn&apos;t work.
	I next tried using my new T-Mobile <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> card that I bought when I initially wanted to switch identities but had no plans to leave them yet.
	I ended up leaving them before activating the card, so it&apos;s still unused.
	However, the tablet Web activation won&apos;t work with it.
	I have to conclude that either that <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> card is set up to use the regular non-tablet activation method only or that the tablet Web activation system checks to see if your device is known to be a tablet or not.
</p>
<p>
	One thing I considered doing is getting an actual usable tablet and bringing it to MetroPCS for a <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> card.
	If I did that, I would not be paying MetroPCS for a tablet I won&apos;t even be able to use, but also not trying to trick MetroPCS into thinking I was getting a plan for what they call a &quot;tablet&quot; while really getting a plan for what they consider to be a &quot;telephone&quot;.
	It seems the only viable options are a couple devices both informally known as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, as they are the only &quot;tablets&quot; that support Replicant.
	Tablets are a bit bulky, so I decided to look into the smaller of the two, the <a href="https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/GalaxyTab270P31xx">Samsung GT-P3100</a>.
	However, even being an older model, it still costs about $500 <abbr title="United States Dollars">USD</abbr>! It might be possible to stomach that price if I didn&apos;t already have a perfectly good GT-I9300, but it&apos;s a bit steep of a price just to humor the carriers.
	If I get the MetroPCS plan, it will have to be with the cheapish tablet they offer.
	It&apos;s $150 <abbr title="United States Dollars">USD</abbr>, and once I have the <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> card activated, I&apos;ll never use the thing again outside of dealing with tech support, but the amount I save on monthly bills will add up.
	For the first ten months, I&apos;ll be in the hole, but after that, my bill is cut in half, hopefully permanently, with no down sides.
	I even get to give up voice service!
</p>
<p>
	If I get the MetroPCS tablet, the <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> card will be too big.
	From what I&apos;ve read, the Pop 7 that they offer takes a mini <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> card, while my GT-I9300 takes a micro.
	I&apos;ll need to get a <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> cutter.
	That won&apos;t be too expensive, but it does lead to issues if this doesn&apos;t go as planned.
	If I buy the tablet and cut the <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr>, what do I do if MetroPCS blocks my GT-I9300 from using the tablet plan? In theory, swapping the <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> card should swap the plan, but sometimes carriers do something hokey and prevent <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> cards from working on multiple devices.
	As far as I know, only TracFone participates in this ridiculous, over-controlling practice, but if they can do it, so can anyone else.
	Until I know for a fact that MetroPCS doesn&apos;t do this, buying the tablet is a gamble.
	If I cut the <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> card and it doesn&apos;t work in my real mobile, how do I explain it to MetroPCS? <q>Yeah, uh, I need to get a new <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> card.
	I&apos;ll pay for it, but yeah, I sort of tried bypassing your restrictive policy by moving the <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> card to my preferred device, but it needed a smaller <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr>.
	So I cut it.
	But it didn&apos;t work, so I need the full mini <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> so the plan will work on the tablet that I lied to you and said I would use in the first place.</q> I don&apos;t think that would go over well.
</p>
<p>
	Why would I need the plan if it won&apos;t even work on a decent device? Why would I need to replace this cut <abbr title="subscriber identity module">SIM</abbr> card? Basically, it boils down to the unlock policy.
	After having put all this money into getting the tablet, not getting it unlocked would be throwing that money away.
	If I at least spend a little more money to keep it in service long enough to get it unlocked, the tablet will be useful for getting other carriers to sell me data-only plans.
	I can&apos;t do that if the tablet is locked.
	MetroPCS says they will unlock a device if it has <a href="https://www.metropcs.com/terms-conditions/phone-unlock-policy.html">been on the network for three continuous months</a>.
	Or rather, they say they will unlock &quot;telephones&quot; that have been on the network that long.
	I don&apos;t know for sure that this same policy applies to &quot;tablets&quot;.
	I will have to ask when I go in tomorrow.
</p>
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	My <a href="/a/canary.txt">canary</a> still sings the tune of freedom and transparency.
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